Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #14

It was me Lea that had my cat pretty much playing in my seedslings!!!

My nasities like it VERY dry and pretty much neglected...

I usually plant nasturtiums in sunny, dry spots and they do well, even in our heat. I do keep them watered and not neglected though.

I think I have only watered mine if they went over a week w/o rain...but I think we stay a little cooler here...

Wow what a lot of posts since I've been away. Well actually I have been right here but on July 20 we had a bad storm with straight line winds and our place was right in the middle of one I guess. It blew roofing off house and barn, a tree and several tree limbs and our old tv tower on which my internet satellite was attached. Just this after noon I got a huge pole set in place of the tower and now am back online. Lea that was the rain you were thanking me for on the 22nd. Anyway I am glad to be back.

One year I grew nasties. I started them inside and started one seed in a 4" pot. I just planted them, covered with plastic dry cleanign bag over the whole tray of pots til they sprouted. Then I took it off.

I left them in that pot til they was really root bound. I have foudn they don't like transplanting real well. When they got real root bound, then I stepped them up into one gallon pots and kept them where they would get morning sun and evening sun. Sun lots hotter down here during afternoon.

I also ferilized the heck out of them. from the time they had 4 leaves on them, I gave weak diluted miracle grow every week. Once they got a bit bigger than I started feedign them twice a week. They grew like gangbusters and got huge leaves and loaded with blooms. They was beautiful. It was that one cultivar that has the soft yellow blooms. Forget the name off hand.

The follwoign year, I thought that was a real pain, so started them out in seed trays and then transplanted and didn't feed as often and they hardly grew. One thing I also noticed is now adays alot of the cultivars are short. They don't get any bigger than about 10-12" . Now I am not swayed by the pretty blooms alone, I looking at the growing height.

For next year I gonan grow that soft yellow and there an orange cultivar that gets several feet tall.

LeBug, In some sections the slope so bad that when we had bad flood rains the neighbor that live sup on the hill, their daffodils was floating down in my yard and my son thought they was ours uprooted, but nope it was theirs. I can throw seed out in my front yard and let us have a rain and I wil find the seed down across the yard, across the drive way and into the now veggie patch and neighbors yard.

I trying to build some beds with nice tall heavy sides, but wood expensive and all the dirt to fill em, especially if I don't know if they still won't wash away. Direct sowing for me is like that old time movie. Instead of the song , Gonna wash that man right out of my hair, it becomes gonan wash them seeds right out of my yard. ; )

Poor Star lol Wash those seed right outta your yard! Had to laugh at that one, I have one real trouble spot like that and that's the shade garden at the bottom of the hill about two acres of hill goes down on that garden, well three really counting the yard and into my neighbors back yard, gets really bad in his yard and my shade garden sits with 4" of rain for quite a spell before it soaks in in this clay, that bed is the best one for being amended but the water still sits on it. A couple of years ago I planted some canterbury bells and they washed away and I found them in the fence in between my yard and the neighbors where the water ends up at and I planted them again and put that plastic guttering over it and put garden staples in the screen to hold them in the next rain that came along washed them out again I never did find one of them but the others stayed lol All of my yard is a hill so if I pitch seeds I have to make sure we aren't getting hard rains until they start to germinate anyway and stick to the ground a little bit :) But then maybe that's why I have such trouble pitching seeds they don't germinate very well for me so they may wash away and I don't know it.

Are their any old barns where you are that are falling down, you could ask permision to get some of the wood off of them, I've done that before that's what I made my raised beds with eight years ago and this year they are starting to fall apart so they lasted quite a few years. Those people were more than happy for me to take the wood told me I could have all I wanted but only took what I needed, wish I had taken more now and saved it, I've been eyeing this one barn falling down just as I come into Greenville for my next raised beds lol That one is a mess though kind of afraid to walk around it, it's about all fallen down and kind of scary looking.

I haven't fed my nasties so I guess I'll do that today or tomorrow, took my kittens to be fixed today so I'm planting out front while they are gone, if I do it when they are here and awake they are in the middle of my plants mashing them down lol I try to do it when they are asleep but they always find me when I'm in that bed and it's a ways from where they sleep at I don't understand it lol Darn I just remembered I have to spray weeds too I'll never get everything I want to get done by the time I have to go get them in the afternoon tomorrow lol

I pick my pictures up from wally world tomorrow of my flower beds and the girl that was going to help me do the camera has gotten me thru it now I'm having trouble trying to find the picture I want to send, oh tcs!!!! I hope she has her computer with her lol I'm going to dmail her :) Maybe she can get me thu that part lol

Thanks everyone for your input lol I'm going to plant some more nasties since I have at least three jugs of them lol I really want these to grow and see what all the fuss is about them 8)

Veronica, I'm sorry that storm did so much damage, I wouldn't have thanked you for sharing the rain if I had known what happened, I guess everything is put back together by now? Our winds are getting a lot worse here when it storms and soo afraid of a tarnado coming thru, I think I told you we must have had a small one out back this winter that took the top of our outhouse off! Do you think you had a small tarnado? Dmail me, was your son with you I remember he had to come to your house because of the floods a while back. I probably won't get back until this evening late but dmail me :)

I put a cedar limb in the ground today for a vine to go up I hope my vine grows and the wind doesn't blow it down, but it should be pretty cool looking if it stays up it's about 8' tall, still have one more branch, have to find a spot for it sometime this week, my poor vines need to be in the ground lol The one growing up the sunflower wasn't doing very well so I took the sunflower out and put something for it to climb on, I think it was competeing too much for water it sure didn't like that spot anyway and that's the only reason I can think of...

good morning :)

I just took a nice walk around to see what is blooming this morning. I still have some plants that never got out of their cups!!! Some....ahemmmmm...I counted over 80!!!....to look at them doesn't look like much....what can I say....a sickness called seed crazed indulgence must have struck me around the time of our swaps!

In the cups blooming are: Eyeball plant spilanthes oleracea, Gomphrena lavender (critter) and Venice Mallow Hibiscus trionum Simply Love’ has one bud at the top!

I'll grab my camera and take a few photos around our gardens sometime today. Besides what I said, ALOT did get planted out :)))

The salvias are really doing well. Dryads white salsa and lady in red salvias and seed from Stokes (in the Stokes swap) for Salvia Bonfire all look really nice in a flower bed we have in front of our veggie garden. I saw a happy hummer flying out this morning :)

This is a pile of mizuna seeds...I'm going to plant another round today for a fall harvest
if anyone wants to try it, let me know, it is easy to grow and tastes great mixed in with other salad greens.

I just looked up mizuna and it sounds tasty! I'd love to try some, wind :-)

ok, sure...I'll sort out some seed for you today and mail them out asap. I want to get some for us too, so I can plant it before it is too late. I have to get my act together and harvest all the basil and what is left of our red grapes too. I noticed yesterday, the grapes started dropping to the ground, not sure if it was because of dryness or they were just as ripe as they were going to get!.....so much to do....so little time.....

I hope everyone is having a good summer with all their new additions from swap plantings. I was shocked to see on the ornamental purple pepper plant the peppers turn red when ripe!!! Fire engine RED, I'll have to pick those off, they are ruining the color scheme :)

Critter, if you are out there...do you harvest your purple ornamental peppers for culinary use? I guess I'll taste it and see what it tastes like.

coleus from PamSues seeds

I forgot to ask...did anyone plant their anise seeds from the Stokes seed swap? Suzy, is going to be so mad, so sshhhhhh don't tell her, I didn't get mine planted!

I'm looking for a photo of the anise blooms if any one has one. Suzy, if you read this, I PROMISE to plant my anise seeds next year :)))

tropical milkweeds from LeBugs seeds

Here's a picture of anise (Pimpinella anisum) bloom.

Guess what: DH has finally taken the slightest interest in a plant. It turned out to be a coleus. He asked me to grow more of those next year and who am I to refuse. This must be encouraged! So now I'm looking for seeds.....

Thanks tuink :) is that photo from your garden? Coleus are my fav too. I've never tried to collect seed from them though; from what I recall the seeds are super tiny.

Nicotiana sanderae ‘sensation’ (rachierabbit)

Hi Wind, what a fantastic tobacco plant that is! Sensational indeed!

Picture is not from my garden. I'm not growing it this year.

Wind, I just happened to be skimming & trying to catch up a bit... if you mean the round 'Pretty Purple Peppers', you'll find they're pretty seedy with no flavor that I could find other than heat. They're technically edible but not exactly yummy. 'Bolivian Rainbow' has a bit more flavor, IMO, but I thought 'Florescent Purple' was a little iffy for culinary use also, although it could probably be used to add a little kick to a batch of salsa.

There are some purple peppers that are definitely "good eats" -- purple versions of jalopenos, serranos, and cayennes, for example. :-)

a few pics from my new camera...

The above photo is a pic of my Buddleja "Guinevere". I trained it to a standard form from a young plant. It is the only Buddleja that has survived here in FL more than 2 years for me.

The next photo is Rosa sinensis "Full Moon"- bought for a dollar 'cause it wasn't cared for at the nursery.

Another view

Margaran: And how happy Rose is that you adopted her and gave her a good home! What a lovely reward for your kindness.

not the best bloom LOL but a decent example of the nectar in Belamcanda chinensis- a hummer magnet

Hemophobic? Are you afraid of blood? I love figuring out peoples monikers.

Maggie

Please ignore the hose and look only at Sacha the Wonder Dog. this was my husband's engagement present from me but man I love this dog- and I thought i was a cat person.

Maggie

Great pics Maggie-tell Sasha HI!!

Finally a Butter yellow Lantana. Most are too orange. It's a small plant now but i'm jealously guarding any seeds so I can have a truckload of these- and share more seeds!!

Maggie

Thanks Fairy!

A pretty salvia- still working on taking a photo of a really red flower.

my garden snake- he likes to sun himself on a firecracker bush

That snake is soooooo cool! We don't have snakes over here...

Like the dog too!

Flowering maple

Margaran: Yep, can't stand the sight of it! Love the black snake, although I'd probably have heart failure if I came upon him. Used to be a huge black snake that lived at the old homeplace in the mountains and every time we went there on family reunions, he was draped somewhere up high, one time across the rafters in the old cabin, another time high up in a rosebush outside the chimney. Of course, I was always the first one to spot him, probably because I also have a fear of snakes! I've learned to be tolerant of the good ones, but still scream bloody murder when I come across the first one of the season. We killed a copperhead outside our back door about 10 one night several years ago and it was only by the grace of God that I didn't step on him.

Earlier nasturtiums and what locations they like was being discussed, and I'm having good/bad luck with them both in dappled shade and half a day of sun, both dryer areas with good, but unamended soil. The ones getting more sun are in the dryer of the 2 spots, and are from swapped seed. They've produced smaller plants with more blooms, but with a lot of yellowing and drying of leaves. Here's what they're looking like:

Those above would probably look better if I'd been good about watering them, but I wanted to see how they'd fare on their own.

These are in the shadier spot, and I think the soil may be a bit richer there. The leaves have been lush and big, and they have bloomed well, but the blooms are a little hidden by the leaves. They were a freebie from Parks, 'Scarlet..something, can't recall off hand. It may be a difference in varieties as well. These have been very rambling and vine like. Both were wintersown and transplanted without difficulty.

No one ever talks about how pretty the copperheads are after they shed lol Nice black snake must be a young one, and great pictures, I got mine back but haven't had time to post them had an emergency with dad yesterday he fell down again and I called 911 wasn't sure if his shoulder was broken so spent the day at the hospital until 2 lol He's alright though and doesn't remember he went yesterday :)

Also I had my three kittens spayed and got them back Tuesday, have to keep all three in the house for ten days and they don't like eachother anymore, the lady from the shelter put Stump in with Sophera (the mommy) and they hissed and growled so then she said put Sump in with Patch well, that didn't work either so they have to get used to eachother again! I hate it, it's so hard to keep them in seperate rooms and only take one out to play at a time so that's been taking a lot of my time up to and can't get any planting done while it's nice and cool outside.

Maggie, what kind of tree is that, it really looks like a nice tree :) My lantanas aren't growing very fast this year or blooming as much as usual, I gave up trying to grow them from seed lol

Tuink No snakes?? I had no idea there was a place- except Ireland of course since St. Patrick drove them out.
LeBug That is a Buddleja Guinevere trained as a standard instead of just left bushy. Re: kittens- I got a second kitty and the vet told me to just let them work it out. It may work better for you since yours are the same age. I have a delicately built 5 year old and a very muscular one year old. She's mean to the older cat but she and Sacha are evenly matched and have a great time.
Gemini your nasturtiums look a lot better than mine. I too planted in part sun/shade and sun , no significant difference- both were puny.

Margaran.. Your flowering Maple, is it a perennial where you live. I been thinking about gorwing some and wondering if they would over winter here in a pot in an unheated gh.

If not I don't want to start seed until January, but if ya think they will, then can start some now to get bigger roots on them.

Tuink, I have some mixed coleus seed left, so will send them in your envie. glad your hubby found something he likes. Maybe he wil discover sevreal others alogn the way and you'll have a gardening buddy. : )

Lea-it is because thier scnets changed-what they associated each other as before is no longer true-they will readjust, but now it is almost like they don't recognize each other anymore-make sense??

I have a couple pics:)

Here is Tinkerbell Nicotiana

Nad here is the brakthrough mix one

I'm going to transplant these today....they are blooming in the 4" pots they are in...I like them! they are short only around 4" tall. I'll have to see what plant files says about them.

Eyeball plant, spilanthes oleracea

Starlight,

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/129295 Does this work for you? Mine were gifted to me by a fellow hummingbird enthusiast. They don't have the prettiest habit- similar to the third pic for http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/170054/ but it doesn't spread the same way. You have seeds? I've not seen any. What do they look like. I've heard it roots well.

Maggie

I don't have the seed yet, have it on my list to order for next week. Nothign like gettign new catalogs and seeing pretty pictures. I such a sucker for a pretty face, especially when it somethign I don't have or haven't grown yet.

I know cuttings can be done. I know they sell seed of certain ones, maybe they the species type, but not sure if the hybrids make seed. They may but I know they won't come true from seed cuz three of the new varities out are all veggie propagated.

margran, they don't have any snakes in Hawaii either :) Well I like how you did that Buddleja, had no idea that you could do that. I'm really worried about Stump I just wonder if she will ever accept Patch again, she is so different in everything she does but at least she isn't hissing at the mirror anymore so that's progress LOL

I took cuttings off of my mints and they didn't take I put four to a five inch pot and put root powder on them, should I have just stuck them in dirt? I've never taken cuttings from them before someone around here wanted some starts to them, I always heard that they were easy to take cutting from so what am I doing wrong, I sit them in the shade.

Yep Fairy, makes sense :) I've been switching their bedding in their carriers for them to get used to eachothers smells, just hasn't worked with Stump she's one of a kind and stubborn as all get out! LOL I think Sophera remembers them she was having a fit when both kittens were in the bedroom crying in their carriers so I let her in and she went right to each one and no hissing at all 8) I'm afraid to let them play together right now cause of their stitches, this is only the fifth day and they look pretty good except for Stump she has busted one, I hope that's going to be all I don't think I could handle another week stuck in the house with them this is driving me nuts not to be able to get outside and them too I'm sure.

Like your nicotianas, all I have this year are the whites that reseeded and one lipstick colored one, never did get my other seeds planted of them.